DATE: Wednesday, November 12, 1997          TAG: 9711120498

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BILL SIZEMORE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   82 lines

DOLE HONORS EISENHOWER AS ROLE MODEL AND LEADER

Bob Dole, looking relaxed and fit a year after his defeat at the polls by President Clinton, looked back half a century for inspiration on Veterans Day as America approaches a new millennium.

The droll Kansan, who lost the use of his right arm on a battlefield in Italy in 1945, paid tribute to Dwight Eisenhower, World War II commander of Allied forces in Europe and future president, as worthy of emulation in this era of pervasive cynicism about politics and politicians.

``He was my commander, he was my president, he was my idol,'' Dole told a sold-out crowd of more than 2,000 Tuesday night at Chrysler Hall.

On the eve of the Normandy invasion in 1944, Dole said, the man later immortalized on ``I Like Ike'' campaign buttons wrote out a simple four-sentence statement making it clear that if the massive operation went sour and blame was to be assigned, ``it is mine alone.''

``Can you imagine any politician making such a statement today?'' Dole asked. Eisenhower, he said, embodied the truth that ``leadership without responsibility isn't leadership at all.''

``I think Eisenhower's strength came from an internal compass,'' Dole said - ``an integrity that emerged from his core and elevated those around him.''

Dole, the second speaker in this year's Norfolk Forum lecture series, quoted survey results showing that in 1964, 76 percent of Americans trusted Washington to do the right thing. Today, he said, that figure has plummeted to 24 percent.

He asked rhetorically: ``Have we lowered our standards of political leadership?''

Although Dole picked a fellow Republican to hold up as a model, he made it clear that his challenge to today's politicians is nonpartisan and that he harbors no bitterness over his 1996 defeat at the polls. ``That's history,'' he said, adding that ``I have a good relationship with President Clinton.''

He also said that over his 45-year political career, ``most of the people I worked with were trying to do the right thing.''

He reminded the crowd that, during the campaign, he proclaimed himself ``the most optimistic man in America,'' and added: ``I still am.''

When economic problems in Asia sent stocks plunging worldwide last month, Dole said, ``the American market provided an island of stability.''

With formerly communist states now rushing to embrace capitalism, he said, it's clear that ``the American model is now the world's model.''

The only question, he said, is whether American political leadership is up to the task.

``We're on the verge of a new century,'' he said, ``and it's going to be up to us whether it's going to be the American century.''

Among other observations Dole made in his speech and a brief news conference:

He praised Clinton's handling of the current impasse with Iraq and advised him to ``keep the pressure on.'' Of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Dole said: ``He needs a hearing aid. He never gets the message.''

He said Clinton was right to push for ``fast track'' bargaining power for international trade agreements, and faulted Congress for not supporting him.

Asked about the odds that America will elect a female president soon, he said, ``I think they're pretty good.'' And he made it clear he thinks his wife, Elizabeth, would be a good candidate.

The former Senate Republican leader confessed that he still misses the Senate and watches C-Span regularly. He said he especially misses Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., who is almost 95. ``Every time I started to feel old, I'd walk by his office,'' Dole quipped. ``During the health-care debate, I kept saying, `Give me the Thurmond plan.' I used to follow Strom around. When he ate a banana, I ate a banana.''

Asked by a young listener what he thinks of comedian Norm McDonald's impression of him on TV's ``Saturday Night Live,'' Dole said, ``I kind of like it. It's funny.'' And speaking of his new sidelight as a TV pitchman for credit cards, doughnuts and the like, he said, ``I won't do commercials if they're not funny.''

Asked about recent gossip-column reports that he's had a face lift, he said he's been telling inquiring reporters, ``Get off my back. I'm out of politics. I'm a private citizen.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

Former Sen. Bob Dole spoke to a sold-out crowd of over 2,000 on

Tuesday night at Chrysler Hall.

BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot

Bob Dole spoke with the media before his address in Chrysler Hall.

He laments that Americans' confidence in their political leaders has

slipped.

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